laos Posts

My parents were Peace Corps volunteers in the early 1970’s, so I usually blame DNA for my frequent urges to travel. Despite growing up in homogenous suburban central Ohio (with a lovely Canadian island as my only international adventure as a kid), as soon as I headed for college I was able to indulge my need for adventure and interest in learning about new places, cultures, and geographies. From 1999-2003 I spent every summer south of the equator (thus making my summers actually winters) traveling to Tanzania, Bolivia, Madagascar, and South Africa. I even managed to snag a hiking job in the French Alps as my first gig out of school!

Living with the travel bug that my trip leader in Tanzania called “itchy feet”, I was particularly interested to see the recent NY Times travel article about the 53 places to go in 2008. Although most of the swanky destinations they listed are far out of my price range ($70,000 for a week at a Swiss chalet? Seriously?) I was interested to see 10 of their 53 locales overlap with places where GlobalGiving has projects. GlobalGiving loves having volunteer travelers tack on a project visit when our friends, colleagues, donors, and readers find themselves in places where our partners work– so if you want to get an up close and personal look at development in action and meet some fantastic project leaders– let us know. And take me with you!!

Bonus prize– if any intrepid readers can identify all 10 places in the NY Times list where GlobalGiving projects, I’ll send you a $10 GlobalGiving gift card (email me your answers at dledyard@globalgiving.com) I’ll even give you the first one for free…